Manufacture of knitted garments or fabrics on circular-knitting machines



MANUFACTURE OF KNITTED GARMENTS OR FABRICS Patented ar. 3, 193ik JOSEPHALFRED MILLS, 0F EAST KIRKBY, ENGL MANUFCTUBE 0F KNITTED GARMENTS 0RFABRICS ON CIRCU'AR-KNITTING MACHINES Application led. November 20,1923, Serial 310.320,67, and. in Great Britain November 26, 1927.

This invention relates -to improvements in the manufacture of knittedgarments or fabrics, on circular knitting machines which are providedwith facilities for fashioning the same, that is, varying the diameterby varying the number of vertical walesfrom time to time in the w'ork asthe latter is produced. Such machines are as described in my UnitedStates Patent No. 1,608,989, provided in addition to the ordinarycylinder needles, with a number of supplementary needles which aretherein termed fashioning needles.

lThese supplementary needles are disposed in an exterior bed disposed atright angles to the axis of the needle cylinder, and are not onlyadapted todraw their loops in the same direction as the cylinderneedles, but can be put into and out of action as required.

`Whcn these supplementary needles are withdrawn out of action, they inthe ordinary course,.immediately transfer their loops to the adjacentcylinder needles, in order to l obviate dropped loops and faults in thework.

According to this invention, improved. results are obtained whenfashioning, by suspending the transfer of the loop on' a withdrawnsupplementary needle, until one or more further courses have beenknitted, and other edects are obtained, by suspending a series of loopsfor one or more courses, that is, withdrawing a series of thesupplementary v needles out of action for a predetermined number ofcourses, during which period they retain their loops, and subsequentlybringing them into action. again, either after transferring their loopsor without transferring their loops.

drawn out of action, are not transferred t0 adjacent cylinder needlesimmediately, butk are suspended whilst another course isknitted on thelatter, and are then transferred. rlhe pointl in the fabric where thevertical 'Wale knitted by any` of the said supplementaryneedles, is thussuppressed, is not with this method so noticeable, as when the transferof the loops is effected immediately as is usual.

The position of a loop which is withdrawn, suspended, and subsequentlytransferred as described, is indicated in Fig. 1, in which A is thewithdrawn and suspended loop inthe vertical Wale B produced by asupplementary needle, said wale B being shaded in the drawing so as todistinguish it from the rest. The withdrawn loop A it will be seen, issuspended whilst the next course C is knitted, and is then transferredfrom the supplementary needle to the 'adjacent cylinder needle on itsleft, and knitted intothe following course D as shownA in the drawing.

rlhe point where the vertical wale B is suppressed, is with this method,only discerned with difficulty in the knitted fabric.

What l claim is:

l. rlhe method of shaping a fabric, which.

-consists in narrowing the fabric by holding the supplementary orfashioning needles out of action with 'the loops retained thereon whilsta course is knitted on the remaining needles, then transferring the loopfrom the -supplementary or fashioning needle to the next adjacent needleand knitting the transferred loop together with the loop already thereoninto the next followingordinary course, that is, the next course but oneto that from which the loop was withdrawn.

2. A knitted fashioned fabric formed of successive courses of stitchescomprising wales certain of which are formed of plain stitches and drawstitches, each draw stitch being .knitted into an adjacent wale of thenext course but one from the course from

